Roland Corporation U.S. recently completed its first-ever Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp Giveaway, held in celebration of Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp’s 15th anniversary and Roland’s 40th anniversary. Cory Nagatoshi from Torrance, CA, was the big winner, earning an unforgettable three-day experience at the camp located in the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. During his stay from January 25-27, 2013, Cory took part in a full slate of exciting and inspiring musical activities, highlighted by the opportunity to perform on stage alongside Roger Daltrey of The Who and Dave Navarro of Jane’s Addiction.

Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp at the MGM Grand gives musicians and music fans a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to jam with legendary rock stars, write and record original songs, and perform live before large audiences in Las Vegas. Campers also get the chance to use world-class gear from Roland and BOSS, including the TD-30KV and TD-15KV V-Drums, RD-700NX stage piano, GA-series guitar amps, ME-70 guitar effects, and much more.

Cory, a guitarist for over 30 years and a busy instructor who teaches up to 50 guitar students a week, had no idea what to expect after winning the contest. “I thought I’d just go and spend some time in Vegas and meet some rock stars or something,” he says. “But then they sent me the schedule, and it was packed from morning till late night. [Laughs.] It’s filled with rehearsals and meet-and-greets and performances and jam sessions and all these things…recording in a studio. So I thought, wow, this is going to be quite a weekend!”

Cory is a longtime user of Roland and BOSS gear, going back to his earliest days as a guitarist. “I use all BOSS pedals,” he says. “I’ve done that since I was a teenager. I used to save all my allowance money to get pedal after pedal, you know—delay, chorus, Heavy Metal pedal…and I still have all those pedals, as well as 10 newer pedals, including the DD-3. They’re indestructible. I use the BOSS pedalboard cases to hold those. Over time, I’ve used Roland amps, too.”

Upon his arrival at the MGM Grand early Friday morning, Cory was assigned lead guitar duties in a band made up of other campers. Wasting no time, they hit the ground running. “We got there and we were told that in a couple of hours we were going to play on stage with Roger Daltrey and Dave Navarro,” said Cory. “So we just got down to business and everybody got to know each other. We learned ‘Magic Bus’ with Roger Daltrey and we played that on stage within a few hours of us first meeting. Then Dave Navarro came into our studio about an hour later, and we played some Zeppelin and Black Sabbath with him, which was really fun too.”

Every group at the camp is assigned a personal counselor for their stay, and well-known metal guitarist and vocalist Ron Keel worked with Cory’s band. “He was the big X factor,” Cory relates. “He had so much energy, and he was so motivating and inspiring. He was sort of the ringleader that got us going, cracking us into gear and getting us ready for all the things we had to do. And he was just such a nice guy. It was one of the best things, meeting a guy like that and getting to know him.”

Shortly after playing with Daltrey and Navarro, Cory’s band got to work on preparing a set for live performances at the MGM Grand’s Rouge lounge on Saturday and Sunday nights. They also wrote a song that they’d record together in the studio the next day. “We had a guy who came there who wasn’t a musician,” Cory says. “He was part of our band, but he didn’t play any instruments. He writes lyrics. So he gave us a sheet with some lyrics, and a couple of guys put some chords behind it. Then we got together, arranged it, and started playing it. We had it ready for the recording the next day.”

After jamming with Richie Furay of Buffalo Springfield and Poco on Saturday morning, the band spent the afternoon recording their new original song. The camp’s two studios in the MGM Grand are outfitted with Cakewalk’s SONAR X2 DAW software and Roland’s OCTA-CAPTURE audio interfaces, plus an array of equipment from Roland Systems Group, including V-Mixers, REAC Digital Snakes, and M-48 personal monitoring systems. Cory tracked his guitar parts with a BOSS ME-70, while his drummer used a TD-30KV V-Drums set. “It took me like two minutes to get a sound I liked,” said Cory. “The drummer loved playing the V-Drums. He just sat down, warmed up for a minute, and he was ready to go. Everything sounded great. It sounded like live drums.”

The next stop in the band’s busy weekend was their Saturday evening performance at the Rouge. “It was pretty packed, because Lady Gaga was there in Vegas that weekend, and it was fun,” said Cory. “It was lively, and a pretty cool gig.” The Rouge’s house sound system also features gear from Roland Systems Group, including the M-300 V-Mixer and a Digital Snake setup.

Cory and the other guitarists in his group played through Roland’s GA-212 amps all weekend, and he was very happy with their great tone and ease of use. “It was a loud amp, a little powerhouse amp, and it sounded great,” he relates. “It had a few channels that I could program. It was so easy to get a good sound on it. I was able to dial up my settings real quick, then jump on the foot pedal and get to work and play.”

On the final day, Ron Keel worked with Cory’s band to tighten up their set for their final performance, which was a battle-of-the-bands showdown between the eight groups at the camp that weekend. “We got our first performance out of the way [on Saturday], and we wanted to tighten things up and see if we could win that thing,” he said. Ultimately, Cory’s band tied with two other groups for the top spot on Sunday evening.

Reflecting on his time at the camp, Cory was very enthused about the musical unity he experienced and the friendships he made there. “I met such great people,” he relates. “When people can connect and get together and have a common goal, and they all have a love of music, it kind of transcends everything. The love of music is such a great thing. We made this tight bond and we got through this whole thing, and it was lot of fun. It was something that I did not expect to happen.”

Cory is also grateful for the opportunity to attend the camp through Roland, the maker of music products he’s used for over 25 years. “I’ve always loved Roland products,” he says. “It’s a neat thing—I’ve been using them my whole musical life, and then they send me on an experience like that. It’s one of those great things, and Roland’s a great company. It’s something that I’ll always remember and always appreciate.”

Learn more about Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp.